Was just looking at the UA desktop timetable, and I noticed that UA will be putting a 777 on one of their SFO-LAX flights starting in late October/early November. It appears to be daily for the vast majority of November, and not just a one-time repositioning flight. When was the last time this route had a widebody on it?

It looks one way, flight 450 SFO 0826 LAX 0953. UA is out of balance flying two LAX-IAD 777 flights and one IAD-LAX flight,so this flight balances 777 operations and must turn to the 1203 LAX-IAD flight.

FYI, In the LAX-IAD market there are 7 west and 8 east, so the extra 777 provides seats of two narrowbodies, I guess. The out of balance markets from LAX seem to be:LAX-ORD one extra eastboundLAX-IAD one extra westbound

Quoting splitterz (Reply 9):Most days I swear all hub-hub flights are over sold.

Especially the SFO/LAX-IAD flights. I do that flight monthly on the 777 and almost every time it's oversold, especially the SFO-IAD leg.

It's also ridiculously elite heavy. It seems like half the plane is on the upgrade list. I've wondered why UA doesn't fly a PS type of service from SFO/LAX to IAD; the J cabin is pretty well sold on the 777 flights when I've taken them.

They are always really hard to non-rev on since UA has allotted unlimited upgrades for all élite members. I used too almost always get first or business. a few months ago I flew the 777 IAD-LAX and it showed 3/12 in first, 14/49 in business and 89/197 in coach the morning of and both premium cabins filled up by departure time.

Quoting united319 (Reply 14):They are always really hard to non-rev on since UA has allotted unlimited upgrades for all élite members. I used too almost always get first or business. a few months ago I flew the 777 IAD-LAX and it showed 3/12 in first, 14/49 in business and 89/197 in coach the morning of and both premium cabins filled up by departure time.

When I use to non-rev on UA in the past to and from SFO to DC, I had to either go through DEN or take the non-stop from BWI to make my travel a lot less hectic, than trying to get a joy ride on the domestic 747 / 777. almost always oversold and many upgrades.

Quoting boilerla (Reply 10):It's also ridiculously elite heavy. It seems like half the plane is on the upgrade list. I've wondered why UA doesn't fly a PS type of service from SFO/LAX to IAD; the J cabin is pretty well sold on the 777 flights when I've taken them.

Probably because of what you just said. If United is capturing that much of the SFO-IAD traffic, why put a small 752 on it when you could have multiple widebodies and narrowbodies a day? There is a ton of traffic on this route and not a lot of competition (where as JFK-LAX/SFO has a ton of competition).

Quoting boilerla (Reply 10):It's also ridiculously elite heavy. It seems like half the plane is on the upgrade list. I've wondered why UA doesn't fly a PS type of service from SFO/LAX to IAD; the J cabin is pretty well sold on the 777 flights when I've taken them.

Obviously it is because UA does not care about upgrades, they care about paid front cabin and there is not enough, particularly on a short flight like that. If that was really a priority, the Australia 744s spend much of the day on the ground at LAX and SFO. They could have them exchange positions on the prime late afternoon flight but yields would crash and few would purchase front cabin (or upper deck) seats. UA has done it in the past on an unscheduled basis to move stranded passengers when SFO has been fogged in.

Quoting united319 (Reply 14):They are always really hard to non-rev on since UA has allotted unlimited upgrades for all élite members.

It is hard to non-rev in F since UDU but it has been hard to get on the plane at all because load factors have been climbing to well over 85%. The cuts in domestic capacity has matched yield management so the flights are kept very full.

Quoting washingtonian (Reply 17):Probably because of what you just said. If United is capturing that much of the SFO-IAD traffic, why put a small 752 on it when you could have multiple widebodies and narrowbodies a day? There is a ton of traffic on this route and not a lot of competition (where as JFK-LAX/SFO has a ton of competition).

The front of the cabin sells reasonably well on the 772 (I'd guess 12-15 J seats are paid) and the back of the plane is always packed in. But A 739/752 ps style service would have 26 BF seats, and I imagine those J would command a higher price than the $2100 R/T for the domestic product UA currently charges for (considering SFO/JFK is usually $3500 a pop for J).

If I paid for J, I would always make sure I paid for the 772 flight at least, but it's a harder flight to come by due to schedule. If the time doesn't work for me, I have to take a lowly, domestic 752 or even a lowly 319. I'd rather take VX first to IAD then a UA A319.

The flight has a variety of planes on it today; I've done the LAX/SFO on a 772, 763, 757, A320 and 319. So UA has no problem putting an AC on the route that serves the desired purpose. I could be very wrong and the demand isn't there, but it always seems like there is when you get to your gate and see the "Number of seats remaining" on the upgrade list.